Automatic feeder for process machines



Aug.. 17 1926.

J. T. MADER AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR PROCESS MACHINES Filed April e, 1925 4Sheets-She et 1 Aug. 1-7 1926. 1,596,056

J. T. M ADER AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR PROCESS MACHINES Filed April 6. 1925 4Sheets-Shet 2 Aug. 17 1926.

1,596,056 J. T. MADER AUTOMATIC FEEDER FOR PROCESS MACHINES Filed April6, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 0; @(IDMID (ID Pa ha Aug. iii, was.

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AUEGMATEC FEEDER FOR EROCESS 'MACHINES.

Application filed s in a, 1925. Serial'li'o. 21,097;

My invention relates to sheet feeding apparatus, and has for its objectto provide improved means for-feeding sheets, carton blanks for example,successively from a stack,at regularly spaced and timed intervals, andin identical positions, to any continuously operating process machine,so that any process, such as printing, cutting, folding, dewaxing or thelike, may be performed 1 on each and every carton in identical mannerand in regular sequence.

The sheets first are fanned, that is, of sheets is bent and the sheetsallowed to slide on each other, so that their edges present theappearance .of a flight of steps. They then are deposited in a portionof the apparatus designed to receive and support them in. operativerelation to the feeding mechanism, which latter consists essentially" 3of cam rollers o crating to extract the sheets successively an atregularly spaced and timed intervals from the bottom of the'stack and todeliver them between feedrolls, which rolls in turn deliver them in likemanner and in identical positions to the process machine. 7 It has beenfound that the lowermost sheets of a fanned stack will slide more freelyfrom beneath the stack than if the stack so was composed of sheetsarranged in alined superimposed relation, and therefore it is my morespecific purpose to provide means to maintain a fanned relation of thesheets of a stack that has been deposited in the 85 machine, and whichwill operate to impart a fanned relation to the sheets of a stack thathas not properly been fanned prior to'being depositedin the apparatus.Also it is my purpose to provide an improved means of reventing morethan a single sheet being ed at a single operation, an to providevarious adjustments whereby .sheets of different sizes and thicknessesmay be accomodated, all in an apparatus of sim- 4 ple construction,

easy to produce and thoroughly reliable and efiicient in operation.

With the foregoing and otherpu'rposes in view, my invention consists inthe novel 00 features of construction, combination and arrangementof'parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, illustrated inthe accompanying drawings and defined in the app n e c aim a stack thatis relatively cheap and In the drawings, wherein like characters ofreference denote corresponding parts in thedifierent views Figure 1 is alongitudinal section through.

a feeding ap aratus embodying the novel and essential eatures of myinvention;

Fig. 2, a transverse section on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, a top plan of the major portion of the apparatus;

Fig. 4, a perspective of the adjustable sheet stop device;

Fig. 5,,an end view of one of the feed cams, the retaining plate for thepliable cam element being removed Fig. 6, an elevation of the camelementretaining plate mentioned in the description of the preceding figure;and

Fig. 7, a perspect've of one of the friction fin er supporting members.

y improved apparatus includes essen 'tiall a pair of spacd side frames10, 10

y connected togethe near their forrigi ward ends by an arched ti bar 11,and near their rearends and intermediately by spaced pairs of tie rods12, 12 and 13, 13 respectively, p

A pair of spaced transverse rotatable shafts 14 and 15 are journaled attheir ends in suitable bearings on the side frames 10, 10, and carriedby each of said shafts is a plurality of rollers 16 each having a camsegment 17 preferably of yieldable material for engaging andsuccessively feeding single sheets from a stack during their rotation,as will hereinafter a pear.

The shafts 14 an 15 are located intermediate of the ends of the sideframes 10, 10 and one of them, 14, preferably is located forv'vardlyother, 15, preferably is located to the rear of said tie rods. Inaddition said shafts are of the tie rods 13, 13, while the f disposed inthe same horizontal planeand somewhat below two spaced pairs ofupper andlower transverse feed rolls 18, 18 and 19, 19, so that a sheet a restingon and being fed forwardly bythe cam segmental? will be directed betweensaid feed rolls.

7 Supported upon the tie rods 12, 12 and 13, 13 is a pair oftransversely :pimed plates 20, 20 each having an inwa y directed flange21 disposed at such elevation above the shafts 14 and 15 as normall tosupport a stack of heets to be fed wi the lowertionally most s modatesheets of different widths, releasable clamp screw devices are providedfor securing them to the tie rods 12 and 13, said devices consisting ofscrew members 22 passing between the tie rods and through bosses 23 castwith the plates 20, 20, and having heads 24 straddling the tie rods, andfurther having thumb screws 25 threaded thereon whereby the plates maybe drawn into clamping relation to said tie rods in any adjustedposition of said plates along said tie rods.

A roller 26 is mounted on shaft 14 and said roller is of such diameterthat its peripheral surface is flush with the cam surfaces 17 on saidshaft, and disposed directs 1y over this roller is'a stop device in-theform of an abutment member 27, spaced from the periphery of said rollera distance substantially equal to the thickness of a sheet to be fed, sothat more than a single sheet is prevented from being fed between saidroller and said abutment member s1- multaneously.

Abutment member 27 is detachably secured within a slot in a block 28 bya set screw 29, and said block is carried at the lower end of a rod orbar 30 vertically slidable in a guideway suitably provided in a casting31, which latter is mounted on the tie bar 11 in any suitable manner, soas to be adjustable therealong in harmony with adjustments of the roller26 and cam rollers 16 along shafts 14 and 15 to accommodate sheets ofdifferent widths and shapes. The

present manner of adjustably mounting casting 31 on tie bar 11 consistsin slottingsaid tie bar as indicated at 33 and passing through said slota bolt 34 and threading said bolt into said casting so that the lattermay be clamped tightly against the tie bar in any adjusted posltionalong the same.

At the upper end of rod or bar 30 is a lug 35, and passing looselythrough this lug and threaded into the casting 31 is a bolt 36 having acoil spring 37 surrounding the same between said castlng and said lug.

The coil spring maintains the rod or plate 30 and consequently the stopmember 27 at its uppermost limit of movement as determined by engagementof lug 35 with the 'head of said bolt, and by turning thelatter theabutment member may be moved towards or away from the roller 26 to varythe width of the space between the stop member andsaid' roller toaccommodate sheets of different thickness.

Also mounted on slotted tie bar 11 for adjustment therealong in the samemanner as casting 31, is a plurality of bracket arms 38 each supportingan inherently resilient finger member 39 including an inclined portion40 extending downwardly and forwardly towards shaft 14 and terminatingin slight spaced relation, respectively, to the cam rollers 16 carriedby said shaft and to stop member 31. Clamping bolts 41 extending throughslots 42 in the respective finger members and threaded intotherespective brackets serve to secure said finger members to saidbrackets'so that the former may be adjusted longitudinally towards and away fromthe stop member 27 while set screws 43 threaded in the respectivebrackets and engaging the inclined portions of the fingers serve asameans of adjusting the free end portions of the latter towards and awayfrom the cam rollers 16.

Mounted on the tie rods 12, 12 at the rear of the apparatus is one ormore fingers or plates 44 having inclined portions 45 which cooperatewith the inclined portions '40 of fingers 39 to maintain a fannedrelation of a stack of sheets; disposed between the plates 20, 20, andto impart a fanned relation to a stack of sheets not pro erly fannedprior to being deposited in tlle apparatus, the stack, as is understood,being placed on the inclined portions of the fingers or plates 44 andallowed to slide down said inclined portions until their forward endsabut the inclined portions of fingers 39, whereby a fanned or steppedrelation is imparted to the sheets and maintained as is manifest.

Mounted on the tie rods 13, 13, between the shafts 14 and 15, is one ormore fingers 46 having a portion 47 inclined upwardly and forwardlytowards the cam rollers on shaft 14-so' as to direct the forward ends ofsheets moved from beneath the stack by the cam rollers on shaft 15between the stop member 27 and the aforesaid cam rollers on shaft 14.

Adjacent ends of the shafts 14 and 15 are equipped with duplicate gears48, 48,

between which is an idler gear 49 whereby said shafts are caused torotate in the same direction and at the same speed, while meshing withgear 48 of shaft 14 is another idler gear 50 also meshing with a gear 51on the lowermost feed roll 18, sald gear 51 in turn meshing with anidler gear 52 which meshes with a ear 53 on the lower feed roll 19. Inad ition the feed rolls of the respective pairs are geared together asat 54, 55, respectively, so as to turn in opposite directions to' feedsheets between them, and preferably the relative 'size of theaforementioned gears 50, 51 and 52 is such that the feed rolls rotateconsiderably faster than the shafts'l, 15 so as to draw a sheet throughbetween stop 27 and the forward cam 1? at a much faster rate of speedthan cam 17 would do alone, which is advantageous for the reason that itspeeds up production and results in one sheet being delivered from theapparatus before the succeeding sheet is delivered between said feedrolls, so that any tendency at clogging of the feeding mechanism iseliminated and a definite space is left between sheets, which isnecessary in process operations.

Rotation is imparted to the shafts 1d and and to the feed rolls in anypreferred manner, and with a stack of fanned sheets restin on theflanges 21 and held against latera movement by the plates 20, theoperation of successively feeding the sheets is apparent: As the cams 17of shaft 15 contact with the lowermost sheet it is moved forwardly ontothe cams 17 of shaft 1d and its movement is continued by said lastmentioned cams towards the feed rolls 18, 18, from which it is deliveredto feed rolls 19, 19 and subsequently ejected from the apparatus to anyprocess machine with which the latter is associated; As the cams 17contact with the lowermost sheet of the stack the stack is liftedslightly against the inherent resilient action of fingers 39, whichresults in sufiicient friction between the cams and the lowermost sheetto cause the latter to be moved from beneath the stack asaforementioned, succeeding sheets being fed from the stack in exactlythe same.

man-non Due to the cooperation of stop member 27 with roller 28 not morethan a 1 single sheet may be fed simultaneously stack and the otherbeing located beneath the stack and adapted to feed the sheets to thefirst mentioned roller, and a finger between said rollers operable todirect the sheets onto the roller beyond the side of the stack, saidfinger being inclined upwardly towards said last mentioned roller.

2. In sheet feeding apparatus, a roller for feeding single sheetssuccessively from the bottom of a fanned stack disposed above the same,yieldable fingers above said roller for exerting a slight downwardpressure upon the stack of sheets to force the successive lowermostsheets into frictional engagement with said roller, said fingers beinginclined whereby they also function to maintain a fanned relation of thesheets of the stack, and means whereby said fingers may be adjustedalong said roller and towards and away from the same to accommodatesheets of different widths .and lengths.

3. In sheet feeding apparatus, a roller for-feeding single sheetssuccessively from the bottom of a stack, a support above said roller, ayieldable finger mounted upon said support adapted to exert a slightdownward pressure upon the stack to force the successive lowermostsheets into frictional engagement with said roller, and a memberthreaded in said support and engaging said finger for adjusting thelatter up and down with respect to said roller.

4. In sheet feeding apparatus, a pair of spaced side frames, tie bars-arran ed in spaced pairs rigidly connecting sai side frames, a pair ofside plates having inturned flanges for supporting a stack of sheets,means for delivering the sheets successively from said stack, bosses onsaid side plates resting upon said tie bars, and boltspassing throu hsaid bosses and between said tie bars aving heads. engaging the underfaces of said tie bars whereby said plates may be adjusted transverselyof the apparatus and secured in difii'erent adjusted positions.

In wltness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name J. T. MADER.

